Velveteen Rabbit Sew Along Day 3: Assembling the Ears

The Velveteen Rabbit Sew Along is back! Today we're going to assemble the ears of the rabbit.

Before you start assembling the ears, attach the interfacing to Ear Front Inner fabric piece. If you are using hair canvas, baste the canvas to the wrong side of the fabric pieces, using a wide machine basting stitch and staying within the 1/4 inch seam allowance. If you are using a heavy fusible interfacing, follow the instructions for your interfacing to adhere it to the wrong sides of the Ear Front Inner pieces.

Then, sew the the Ear Front Inner piece to the ear front outer piece. This can be a tiny bit tricky, so you can watch me do it in a video, or just follow the pictures below.

First, sew one side, from the point of the ear to the base, right sides together. The stitching line is marked on the pattern piece at the top of the ear, it might help you to transfer this marking to your fabric pieces with a fabric marker. You can see my markings on the picture below. 

After stitching the first side, clip the tight angle of the outer ear piece just to the stitching. This will make it easier to line up the second side. 

Then, pin and sew the other side from point of the ear down to the base. 

After stitching, press your stitching flat. If you are working with a napped fabric, use a scrap of napped fabric as a press cloth, or press it from the back, to avoid crushing the fibers.

Then, sew the Ear Back to the assembled Ear Fronts, right sides together. 

Clip the point and trim the seam allowances to 1/8 inch. 

Turn the ear right side out. Use something pointy like a chopstick (or a point turner, if you have one!) to gently press the tip out. 

Repeat all steps for the second ear, then you are are ready to assemble the body!

Velveteen Rabbit Sew Along Day 2: Assembling the PDF Pattern and Cutting

Hello there! Today we will be assembling our Velveteen Rabbit PDF files and cutting our fabric.

If you've missed any previous posts, here is what has come before in the Velveteen Sewalong:

Welcome and Schedule
Day 1: Fabric and Supplies

The pattern is designed to be printed on a home printer on 8.5"x11" paper. Make sure that you print the pattern at 100% (I have to turn off "scaling" on my printer). After you print, check the test square on the first page of the pattern with a ruler-- make sure it measures exactly 1 inch or 4 cm.

Some of the pattern pieces are larger than will fit on 8.5"x11" paper, so the first 4 pages need to be taped together. Match the triangles and tape together pages, matching the triangles. For a secure and accurate join between two pages trim off the margin of one page and tape it to the side that still has the margin.

Pages 5, 6, and 7 don't need to be taped because the contain smaller pattern pieces.

Before you cut, prewash your fabrics. This helps remove any residual chemicals or contaminants from your fabrics, which is important if you are planning on making a toy that a child will play with. It also prevents shrinkage when the toy is washed... although a finished stuffed toy should only be hand washed and air-dried.

After you've taped together the pattern, cut out the paper pattern pieces. Arrange your pattern pieces on your main fabric, contrast fabric, and muslin using the cutting layouts in the instructions. When I'm working with lofty fabrics like fleece or some velvets, I prefer to trace around the pattern pieces with a fabric marker and cut them out with fabric scissors. For thinner fabrics like quilting cottons and muslin, I use a rotary blade and a cutting mat.

You can also cut out the heavy weight interfacing for your ears at this time using the Ear Front Inner pattern piece and the cotton muslin for the weight bags.

If you are using a velveteen or velour with nap, make sure to pay attention to the nap. The main thing is to always cut nap in the same direction, so that when you stroke your bunny, the fur will all lie in the same direction. You want to place the arrow on the pattern piece in the direction that the little hairs on the fabric want to lie down. Here's a short video I made to illustrate this:

If your fabric has stretch, you will want to underline or interface it. In the video above about nap I am making a bunny out of cotton velour, which is a knit fabric with stretch. To help the bunny keep it's shape, I chose to underline it with cotton muslin.

You might also want to underline or interface your fabric to provide additional strength. If you are making a bunny that you plan to give to a child who will potentially play with it for many years, the underlining or interfacing will make the toy better able to stand up to the tough life of a well-loved toy.

You can underline with any medium-light weight fabric-- I usually use cotton muslin. If you are interfacing, use a quality medium weight interfacing with minimal stretch. Don't trim the seam allowances on your interfacing: sewing the interfacing into the seam will add strength.

To underline or interface your fabric, cut the Body and Belly pattern pieces out of your underlining fabric or interfacing. If you are underlining, simply machine baste your underlining piece to the back of your fabric piece with a wide stitch. Keep your basting stitch just inside the 1/4 inch seam allowances. If you are interfacing, follow the instructions on your interfacing to adhere the interfacing to the back of your fabric piece.

Tomorrow we start assembling the bunny!

Velveteen Rabbit Sew Along: Welcome and Schedule

Welcome to the Velveteen Rabbit Sew Along!

If you have never made a stuffed animal before, the Velveteen Rabbit is a great place to start because it has a simple shape without too many curves or tight places. This sew along will help guide you through the process.

The holidays are coming right up and I know many of you makers are getting busy. I wanted to get this sewalong up to help those of you that might be considering making a special toy for someone special on your list!

Velveteen Rabbit in Maroon and Pink Cotton Velour

About the Pattern

The Velveteen Rabbit pattern is a PDF sewing pattern to make a nearly life-size standing rabbit toy. The bunny stands about 14 inches tall when his ears are down, and is weighted to feel like a real rabbit. The pattern is designed for woven fabrics such as quilting cottons and velveteen, but it also includes instructions for how use a stretchy fabric like cotton velour or minky.

The pattern includes downloadable step-by-step instructions with photo illustrations. The sewalong and the accompanying videos provide additional examples and information.

The pattern was first released in Love Sewing Magazine in Spring 2017. The version that is for sale on this website or Etsy includes more detailed instructions.

If you haven't gotten your pattern yet, you can get it at my Etsy store here. Use code VELVETEEN to get 10% off through November 27.

Sew Along Schedule

Welcome and Schedule
Day 1: Fabric and Supplies
Day 2: Assembling the PDF and Cutting (Video: Understanding Napped Fabrics)
Day 3: Sewing the Ears (Video: Assembling the Ears)
Day 4: Sewing the Body (Video: Attaching the Ears)
Day 5: Stuffing, Weighting, and Finishing (Videos: Introduction to Safety Eyes and Stuffing)

Materials

If you are working on assembling your materials for making your rabbit, here is what you will need:

Velveteen Rabbit Pattern
1/2 Yard Main Fabric
Fat Quarter (18”x22”) or 1/2 Yard Contrast Fabric
Matching sewing thread
1/4 yard cotton muslin or similar plain woven fabric (for weighted bags)
Sew-in Horsehair Canvas or medium/heavy fusible interfacing for ears
Two 12mm safety eyes
Embroidery floss
Stuffing (Wool or Polyfill)
Ground Walnut shells or poly pellets for weighting

Optional (suggested for stretchy fabrics or thin fabrics):
Additional cotton muslin for interlining or medium interfacing

History and Inspiration

I've always been a fan of classic toys, and the Velveteen Rabbit is one of my favorites! Most of us know about the Velveteen Rabbit from Margery Williams' 1922 book, The Velveteen Rabbit.

It was Williams' first book, and it told the story of a young boy who receives a stuffed rabbit toy for Christmas. Once the novelty of the talking and mechanical toys wears off, the rabbit becomes a favorite toy. Their relationship grows for many years, but one year the boy gets sick, and all of the toys that consoled him when he was sick are discarded. Left overnight in the garden, the rabbit cries a single real tear, then a fairy grants his wish to be a "real" rabbit. The following summer, the boy sees rabbits playing in the yard and remarks on how much one of the resembles his former toy.

Cover of the first edition of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, Illustrations by William Nicholson.

While the book made the idea of a Velveteen Rabbit famous, such a toy might have been commonplace in 1922. There are several stuffed rabbit toys in museum collections that date back to before Williams published her book. One of my favorites is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Velveteen Rabbit Pattern was strongly influenced by this sweet standing rabbit.

"Toy rabbit called 'Tiny', in an upright stance, printed cream velvet with brown spots," ca 1902, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

There are also several excellent examples of "velveteen rabbits" by the famous toymaker, Steiff. The orange bunny was sold at a Christies Auction for over $2,000!

Steiff Rabbits: Left: Steiff sample, ca. 1929 | Right: Steiff jointed rabbit, ca. 1910 (ebay)

Other examples of upright stuffed rabbit toys can be found on Ebay and collector websites. 

Left: Vintage Farnell Winfred Rabbit, ca 1925 |  Right: Antique Edwardian Mohair Bunny (ebay)

The velveteen rabbit has been around for a long time, so you can be sure that it won't go out of style in a hurry.

Here are a few more that I created from the pattern. The one on the left is made from a silk/rayon velvet with a white ribbed cotton velour ears and belly. The one in the middle is made from a cotton print by Cloud 9 fabrics.

I'll be back tomorrow with the first sew along post where we'll talk about fabrics, hope to see you there!